King County Parks ‘Night Out Against Crime’ picnic will be Tuesday, Aug. 6

The Annual King County Parks Night Out Against Crime Picnic is coming up on Tuesday, Aug. 6 from 5 – 7pm at Steve Cox Memorial Park in White Center (1321 SW 102nd 98146.)

The White Center Teen Program has participated in the National Night Out event for over a decade and is inviting families back to the park in 2013. In addition to the traditional Night Out crafts, games and hotdogs, the Teen Program will also be offering tours of their new demonstration garden at the Southeast corner of the park. The garden tours are especially fitting for Night Out, as the new garden was installed in the Spring of 2013 in an attempt to replace an ongoing safety concern in the park with a new, improved amenity.

In recent times, the original picnic shelter at Steve Cox Memorial Park has posed challenges for public safety and ongoing maintenance. The remote location of the shelter provided privacy for picnic goers, but it also allowed for general misuse and mistreatment of the space. King County Parks just completed construction on a more centrally located picnic shelter next to the children’s playland, and the question was raised as to what to do with the existing structure. In lieu of tearing down a beloved amenity made possible by local community groups like the WC Lions , The White Center Teen Program proposed upcycling the space and structure into a demonstration garden and greenhouse. The original shelter was converted by the County Crafts Crew in the spring of 2013, and the teens have been volunteering to build the beds, plant the crops, and maintain the garden ever since.

This year’s picnic is once again sponsored by the teens and staff of the White Center Teen Program. The WCTP offers free recreational, educational and social enrichment programming to over 800 culturally diverse participants ages 12-19 each year. The program operates five days a week, forty-eight weeks a year and provides structured recreational classes and programs, homework assistance, educational and computer resources, leadership training, volunteer opportunities, special events, field trips, and drop-in activities. Teens and staff will be providing garden themed crafts, games and snacks along with garden tours between 5-7pm on the evening of the 6th.